Tagline device



Dec. 5, 1950 R. w. WESTFALL 2,532,828

TAGLINE DEV-ICE 1 Filed Nov. 10, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 n E mw x 1111/ vYIIIIIIIZ IIIIII/ INVENTOR. Jab 51'' t M [1.15.5 zfuff 1950 R. w.WESTFALL 2,532,828

TAGLINE DEVICE Filed Nov. 10, 1.945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Ember-tLu Me'sfall Patented Dec. 5, 1950 TAGLINE DEVICE Robert W. Westfall,North Hollywood, Calif assignor of forty-nine percent to Earl 0.Marshall, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application November 10, 1945, SeriaLl'No. 627,893

3 Claims. (01. 242107) My invention relates to equipment of the typeused to move materials, such as earth in excavating operations, ormaterials from the holds of ships.

Such equipment usually is provided with a boom from which a grab bucketor other material handlingdevice is Worked by a hoisting cable. Theloads carried may be very considerable and means are usually provided toreduce the swinging of the bucket or other device, such as a line woundon a. drum mounted on the boom and connected at its free end to thebucket, the line being maintained under spring tension.

The invention particularly relates to control means for such lines,which are known as taglines. It has for its general object the provisionof an improved construction of the drum and mounting thereof disclosedin my prior Patent No. 2,367,912, although it will be understood thatthe constructions hereinafter disclosed are not necessarily limited intheir use to taglines.

In the drum of my earlier patent use is made of a fiat spiral springconnected at its inner end to a stationary hub and at its outer end tothe inner periphery of the drum. Springs Of this type are difiicult tosecure, for if holes are drilled through the ends of the spring for thepassage of securing bolts or pins, the spring is weakened at the pointof greatest stress concentration.

It is an object of the invention to provide securing means for springsby which the ends of the springs are retained in position withoutdrilling them and by which the ends are free to take up a position inline with the adjacent coils of the spring.

-A further object of the invention is to provide improved means foradjustably mounting the drum on the boom.

Another object of the invention is to arrange the drum in which thespring is mounted as a grease or oil container, thereby improving theaction of the spring.

Still further objects and features of the invention will hereinafterappear from the following description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary section on the line l-l of Fig. 2, showing themeans for anchoring the ends of a flat spring used to apply tension tothe tagline drum;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section, with parts broken away, taken throughthe drum and its mounting means on which the tagline is wound, the viewbeing taken on line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, showing the mountingplate by which the drum is attached "to the boom; and

Fig. 4 is a side elevation showing the drum and a fairlead associatedtherewith for guiding the tagline onto the drum.

Referring nOW to the drawings, the drum is indicated by the numeral III,the tagline wound thereon being shown at I2. The drum is mounted forrotation on a stationary spindle I! which is rigidly secured in atubular abutment or bracket 16 formed integral with a plate I1, theplate itself being adjustably secured to a mounting plate 64 which isattached to the boom (not shown). g

A flat coiled. spring 22 is arranged within the drum, the inner endbeing secured to the shaft M in the manner hereinafter described and tothe outer end of the drum near the outer periphery thereof, in themanner to be described.

The inner periphery of the spring is secured in an abutment or cage 23pivoted between flanges 24 and 26 welded to the spindle M, by a .pin 28passing through .a bored. lug 30 depending from the body 32 of theabutment. This body is formed to provide a wedge-shapedrecess or socket34 in which a wedge 3'6 .is, adapted to fit. The inner endof the springis annealed and sharply bent, as shown at 38, over the thicker end ofthe wedge, the end of the spring being gripped between the wedge 36 andthe outer wall of the wedge-shaped recess on the wedge being driven intoposition.

At its outer end the spring 22 is held by a pivoted abutment or cagemounted on a pin 42 passing through the side plates 44, 46 of the drumand through the abutment. A wedgeshaped recess or socket is provided inthe abutment adapted to receive a wedge 58. The outer end of the springis bent inwardly as indicated at 52 over the thicker end of the wedgeand is firmly :gripped in the abutment when the wedge 59 is driven :intoposition. By this construction it will be .noted that the ends of thespring are secured without in any way reducing the strength of thematerial at the ends, and are so secured that the ends of the spring maytake up a position in line with the contiguous length of the spring. Itis evident that when the spring is tightly coiled, the outer end of thespring will be inclined sharply away from the outer periphery of thedrum, whereas when the spring is in un-. coiled position the outer coilof the spring may lie against the inner periphery of the drum, while theinner end of the spring may flex outwardly from the position shown inFig. 1, which movement is provided for by the pivotal mounting abovedescribed.

In order to improve the functioning of the spring, I form the drum as anoil or grease container. It will be noted from Fig. 2 that the outerside of the drum is completely enclosed, While at the hub of the drum,through which the spindle I4 projects, grease retaining packing 54 isprovided. The drum may be filled with oil or grease through a tappedhole 56 filled by a removable plug 58.

The tubular mount l6 for the spindle I4 is provided with a heavy endplate 18 bored to receive the spindle and a key 60 is fitted in a keywayformed partly in the surface of the bore through the end plate andpartly in the spindle. The spindle is held in position in the abutmentby a nut 62.

Booms of the type with which the tagline is adapted to be used aregenerally formed of latticed girders and booms may be of differentlengths and sizes. In order to provide a means of mounting the taglinedrum on booms of different sizes and construction, I provide mountingplate 64 provided with a number of slots 66 (Fig. 3). By using threadedbolts with hooked ends, the plate may be secured to the lattice bracingmembers of a boom in the most effective position.

The plate I! carrying the abutment I6 is adiustably secured to themounting plate Ed by means of bolts 68 passing through the mountingplate and through arcuate slots 10 in plate l8 and nuts 12 mounted onthe bolts acting to clamp the plates 18 and. 64 together. It will beevident that by slacking back the nuts on the mountin bolts and rotatingthe drum, as permitted by the arcuate slots, proper positioning of thedrum may be secured relatively to the mounted plate 54.

It is nece sary to provide a fairlead or guide element in order to leadthe tagline pro erly onto the drum and the supporting arms 14 for thefairlead are welded to the tubular abutment It.

In the case of very large cranes and similar equipment it may benecessary to provide a stronger spring than can be fitted in a drum ofthe construction illustrated in the drawings. This can be readily takencare of by providing an additional drum fastened to the winding drum andmounted therewith on a sp ndle of suff cient length, the mounting meansand other constructional features previously described being retained. Asecond spring is mounted in the additional drum to provide the greaterspring tension reouired by the greater load, the spring being securedsimilarly to spring 2'2 to the spindle and drum.

The invention is herein described and illustrated in a preferred form.but it is to be understood that the scope of the invention is not in anyway limited by this illustrative showing but only as indicated by thescope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a device of the class described, a body, a spindle member securedto the body, a drum member mounted for rotation about the spindle,

a, flat spiral spring cooperating with said members to permit limitedrotative movement of the drum member in one direction and to rotate saidmember in the opposite direction and means pivotally connecting therespective ends of the spring to said respective members to permitswinging movement of the spring about an axis parallel with the axis ofrotation of the rotor member, said last named means comprising a pair ofcages each providing a tapered socket into which an end of the springprojects, one of said cages being pivotally secured to the interior ofthe drum member and the other cage being pivotally secured to thespindle member for swinging movement about axes parallel with the axisof rotation of the rotor member and a free Wedge in each socket adaptedtohold the end of said spring.

2. Mounting means for adjustably securing a tagline device including adrum about which the tagline can be wound, and a stationary spindle onwhich the drum is rotatably supported on the boom of a crane or the likecomprising a mounting plate adapted to be secured to the boom, and atubular bracket mounted on said plate, said bracket having an aperturedend wall adapted to receive the end of said spindle, a retaining meanson the end of said spindle inwardly of said end wall, and means foradjustably mounting said bracket on said plate rotatively about the axisof said spindle.

3. Mounting means for adjustably securing a tagline device including adrum about which the tagline can be wound, and a stationary spindle onwhich the drum is rotatably supported on the boom of a crane or the likecomprising a mounting plate adapted to be secured to the boom, a bracketincluding a plate portion and an outstanding tubular portion having anapertured end wall, said plate portion including arcuate slotsconcentric with the axis of the aperture in the end wall of the tubularportion, and nut and bolt means extending through said slots and mountedin said mounting plate for adjustably securing said bracket to saidmounting plate.

ROBERT W. WESTFALL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Num er Name Date 517,872 Lawton Apr. 10, 18941,118,207 Larson Nov. 24, 1914 1,208,424 Wedell Dec. 12, 1916 1,803,481Minty May 5, 1931 1,950,317 Luneburg Mar. 6, 1934 2,085,333 ReynoldsJune 29, 1937 2,110,433 Yost Mar. 8, 1938 2,166,479 Ruddock July 18,1939 2,193,407 Hagen Mar. 12, 1940 2,303,002 Ruddock Nov. 24, 19422,367,912 Westfall Jan. 23, 1945 2,385,011 Lurtz Sept. 18, 1945 FOREIGNPATENTS Number Country Date 505,516 Germany Aug. 21, 1930

